1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wiping apparatus and method of a recording head of an ink jet recording apparatus for recording information on a recording medium by ejecting ink from ink ejection orifices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many ink jet recording apparatuses of this type are provided with a wiper that wipes an ink ejecting portion of a recording head so as to remove ink drops or dust sticking thereto, thus maintaining reliable printing or image recording. The wiper is made of rubber or the like, and the wiping is carried out as needed before or after a recovery operation of the recording head, such as suction or idle ejection of ink.
In particular, in a serial printer which performs recording by scanning a recording head perpendicularly to the sheet transport direction using a carriage, there is used such a wiper that wipes the ejection orifices of the head by projecting toward the head moving to the wiper so that the wiping is carried out by utilizing the moving speed of the carriage. In this case, the wiper is installed close to an end of a platen for supporting the recording medium. Wipers of this type are widely used because they are inexpensive and reliable. For example, Japanese laid-open patent application No. 58-94472 (1983) discloses a technique that has a cleaner (a wiper) that moves to and fro with respect to a recording head, and reduces the speed of the recording head when the head enters the cleaning position to slide on the wiper. Thus, by reducing the carriage speed from high speed recording, the wiper can remain continually in contact with the recording head.
The prior art, however, presents a problem in that wiped off ink splashes from the tip of the wiper to the surroundings so that a recording sheet or the apparatus may be spotted when the wiper slips off the ink ejection portion of the head at the final stage of the wiping operation. This is because the contact state between the wiper and the recording head is maintained constant, and only the relative speed between the two is once changed when the head enters the cleaning position.